As you probably know by now, Bohemian Rhapsody did indeed end up among the Best Picture nominees. Despite mixed reviews and oodles of pre-release controversy (over Bryan Singer getting fired and replaced by Dexter Fletcher and continual allegations against Singer concerning a history of sexual harassment and/or assault) along with post-release controversy (over factual inaccuracies and whether or not the Freddie Mercury biopic essentially slut-shamed its bisexual protagonist), the film has been a monster hit for 20th Century Fox and friends. Not only has the film earned a Best Picture nomination (along with nods for Rami Malek and nods for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Editing), but the $55 million-budgeted Queen biopic has earned over $800 million at the worldwide box office.

The movie has earned more than any straight-up (no action, no fantasy) drama ever in unadjusted global grosses. Yes, there was a time when a movie like Kramer Vs. Kramer could snag $109 million in domestic earnings (around $400m+ adjusted for inflation), but by today's standards adult-skewing dramas like A Star Is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody, even in the popular "live-action musical" sub-genre, making it to $200m+ domestic qualities as a miracle. And yeah, the film is an overseas monster for Fox, earning nearly $600m outside of North America. That makes it Fox's biggest overseas earner ever behind only Ice Age 4, Ice Age 3, Titanic (a Fox movie that Paramount distributed in North America) and Avatar. Among all Fox flicks, its global take ranks eighth.

It is currently behind only Independence Day ($821 million in 1996), Revenge of the Sith ($849m in 2005), Ice Age: Continental Drift ($877m in 2012), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($887m in 2009) The Phantom Menace ($1.027 billion, counting the 3-D reissue), Titanic ($2.1b, counting the 2012 reissue) and Avatar ($2.79b in 2009/2010). It is the third-cheapest movie ever to top $800m, behind only China's $30m Wolf Warrior 2 and Disney's The Lion King ($45m back in 1994). So, yes, if we argue that Best Picture is about awarding the producers, there's a case to be made that the producers deserve a tip of the hat for firing Singer, bringing in Fletcher and still offering a deeply crowd-pleasing blockbuster.

It's certainly not on my "best of the year" list, but its sheer success (and popularity with voting members) means it's not a shock. Looking at what got in and what didn't, I would argue that part of why the Oscar season seems to dispiriting this year is mostly due to A) how little money most of the non-musical Oscar season flicks have earned this year (none of the live-action September-to-December Oscar season releases will earn as much as The Upside or The Mule) and due to what got the push from what studios. Walt Disney was always pushing Black Panther, Warner Bros. was always pushing A Star Born and Paramount/Viacom made a try with A Quiet Place. But Universal/Comcast, 20th Century Fox and Annapurna somewhat ended up switching horses in midstream.

At the beginning of the season, you might presume that Universal's biggie was First Man, Fox's biggie was Widows and Annapurna's biggie was If Beale Street Could Talk. And while all three of those films were beloved by critics and film nerds, none of them really broke out financially. Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong biopic got swamped by A Star Is Born and the fact that it was closer in tone to Solaris than Apollo 13. Widows was another case of folks championing diversity online but not in theaters. And Barry Jenkins' James Baldwin adaptation is doing fine ($10 million+). The relative box office failures of First Man ($100m on a $60m budget)and Widows ($75m on a $42m budget) doomed them from the get-go.

Widows was arguably always a long shot, due to its genre (it's a heist drama) and its lack of an empowering narrative to sell since Viola Davis and Steve McQueen were both recent Oscar winners.Green Book rode a buzzy festival run, along with an early win from the National Board of Review (and non-stop media attention due to its own onscreen and offscreen controversies) and became Universal's prized horse in the race. Vice got the momentum and, thanks to a buzzy ensemble cast (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell, etc.), the push over Jenkins' low-key romantic melodrama/tragedy. And Bohemian Rhapsody... well, see above.

It's not that Green Book robbed Beale Street or that Vice took a spot that should have gone to Widows, it's that the three studios in question ended up pushing, due to box office and overall narrative, the three movies that were far less popular with critics and film nerds. So, now we have a situation where If Beale Street Could Talk isn't a Best Picture nominee, Widows got shut out and First Man had to settle for four tech nominations. Of course, if the Academy went back to the "ten nominees, period" system that worked so well in 2010 and 2009, we might have had a happier batch of Oscar watchers this morning.

God forbid, a movie directed by a woman (Leave No Trace, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, etc.) might have snuck into the Best Picture race as well. But, yeah, had Universal, Fox and Annapurna ended up pushing First Man, Widows and If Beale Street Could Talk, it's quite possible that those would have been their respective Best Picture contenders this morning. Of course, had regular moviegoers bothered to check out the first two of those in theaters instead of decrying the lack of quality adult-skewing movies while buying their ticket to The Grinch... well, you get the idea. Of course, if Spike Lee finally wins that Best Director Oscar for BlacKkKlansman while Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse wins Best Animated Feature, this will have all been worth it.